Transportation system and equipment



Sept. 1, 1953 w. F. ADLER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND EQUIPMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 8, 1947 INVENTOR. M/ILLMM. F A ME/q III!!!" I,

Sept. 1, 1953 Filed April 8, 1947 W. F. ADLER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND EQUIPMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. M ILLIHM E HOLE? BY M Patented Sept. 1, 1953 TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND EQUIPMENT William F. Adler, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application April 8, 1947, Serial No. 740,062

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to the transportation of parcels and goods, such as mail, baggage and express, by rail. Ordinarily such goods are shipped on trains having passenger cars as well as baggage and express cars; and the stopping time at stations, particularly intermediate stations, is generally determined by the loading and unloading time at present required for handling mail, baggage and express, which is usually much longer than the stopping time desirable for passenger service. My apparatus and system accomplish the unloading and loading of mail, baggage and express in a much shorter time, comparable to the short interval now prevailing for passenger trains not handling express, mail or baggage. The increment of time saved at each station is substantial, and the cumulative saving over a given route may permit it to be traveled in considerably shorter time. In the use and practice of my invention, the greater part of the labor heretofore performed while waiting at intermediate stops may be done while the train is in transit, and the actual labor to be performed while the train is stopped requires but a brief interval of time.

My apparatus consists of units of two cooperating kinds, each of the nature of a cart or truck, and the two kinds being differentiated according to their specialized and unique functions in the handling of goods shipped. All the units of the same kind are similar in construction and are interchangeably used with companion units of the other kind at different stations along the railroad employing my system. One of these kinds of units may be described as roller pallets or platforms, which are shallow carts for goods to be loaded or unloaded, and are carried between stations in the railway cars. The other or companion kind may be described as carriages, which are wheeled vehicles adapted to receive the roller pallets from the cars and to deliver other pallets to the cars. The carriages with pallets mounted thereon thus comprise baggage trucks which are operated at particular stations between the railway cars stopping there and the express and baggage rooms. Each carriage has a track frame of adjustable elevation, substantially at the height of the car floor above the station platform, on which are tracks of a gauge registering with the rollers on the pallets; and the two kinds of units are constructed to coact in use as to guide the transfer of pallets between the carriage and railway cars, and to retain the assembly against displacement in transit to and from the station express and baggage facilities. In other words, my apparatus is a novel baggage truck having separable carriage and load platform, which is constructed to permit the platforms to glide horizontally into and out of an adjacent railroad car; and it thus provides alternately substantially rigid platform trucks at stations and shallow portable pallets for service within the railway cars between stations.

My system of transportation requires the use of pluralities of such carriages and roller pallets, in conjunction, of course, with railroad trains. The number of carriages required is approximately proportional to the number of stations along the route, plus spares and extras for peak service requirements; and the number of roller pallets is approximately proportional to the sum of the number of carriages and the number of baggage and express cars on the trains serving the route using my system. Each baggage and express car contains on or more roller pallets substantially all the time; and the carriages at the stations have one or more pallets mounted thereon substantially all the time. I contemplate providing more than one pallet per car and carriage, as, for example, two each, which is convenient with long, narrow carriages comparable to baggage trucks now in general use and with pallets of suitable length to pass readily through doors of express and baggage cars.

My system contemplates substantially the following steps in the rail transportation of goods. While the train is in transit approaching a station, goods to be unloaded at the station are deposited upon one or more pallets within the car; and at the station, goods to be loaded upon that car, if any, are deposited upon one or more carriage-mounted pallets. When the train arrives, the carriage is Wheeled adjacent the car 1 door, and pallets are exchanged from carriage to car and car to carriage, this exchange leaving unchanged the number of pallets in or on each vehicle. A loaded pallet is thus always exchanged for a different pallet, which may or may not be loaded also. Obviously, an empty pallet will be exchanged for a loaded one whenever goods are to be loaded only or unloaded only at some particular stop. This exchange requires a very brief time, and the railway car is quickly ready for departure. Subsequently, goods received may be stowed away in the railway car and the pallet may be leisurely loaded with goods destined for delivery at the next station.

I prefer to equip the pallets with handle rails at each end, which are hinged to the platform to fold flat when the pallet is not in use so that it may be set aside and take up little space within a railway car. The pallets also are preferably provided with a manual or pedal-operated braking device to prevent undesired rolling about in the car. They may be conveniently fabricated of metal sheets, flanged around the circumference and ribbed for strength; and roll on shallow ball casters. Each pallet also includes a guiding means disposed on its under side which is formed to engage a guide receiver on the carriage, and to drift the pallet into entry position with respect to the carriage tracks.

The carriages each include a car frame. on. which the wheels are mounted and a track'fram'e connected thereto through an intermediate jacking device whereby the level of the; track. frame can be adjusted to registry with the. railway car floor. Hinged to the track frame are gates which when raised confine the pallets betweenends' of the tracks, and when lowered bridge the gap between the carriage and the railway car. Latches are preferably provided to secure the gates in raised position. As previously mentioned, the carriages may conveniently be made of suflicient length to bear two pallets disposed end to end. Mounted on the track framel also provide the above mentioned pallet guide receivers, which are constructed to diverge or spread on the side adjacent the car to permit easy entry of the guiding means depending from the pallet.

A complete understanding of my apparatus and system may be obtained from the. following detailed description and explanation with reference to the accompanying, drawing illustrating one example. In the drawings,

Figure l is a plan view of my apparatus at the door of a railway car, which is shown partially in section;

Figure 2 is an end elevation of my apparatus with a portion of the railway car indicated in section;

Figure 3 is side elevation of a carriage;

Figure 4 is a sectional elevation taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 1;

Figures 5 and 6 are partial vertical sections through the carriage at the lines VV and VI-VZ respectively in Figure 4, but to a larger scale than Figure 4;

Figures '2' and S are horizontal projections of certain parts viewed as indicated by. the section lines VIP-VII and VIIIVIII in Figure 4, other parts being omitted for clarity; and

Figure 9 is a longitudinal vertical section on the center line of the frame, showing a portion of the jack mechanism at the line IXIX of' Figure 4, but to larger scale; the shaft and gearing not being shown in section.

Referring first particularly to Figures 1', 2, and 3, two roller pallets l are shown, one entirely on the carriage 2 and the other partially on the carriage and partially within an adjacent railway car. Each pallet is comprised of a shallow platform tray 3 which rolls on four ball rollers or casters l, two folding handles 5 (not shown in Figure 1 for clarity), depending guide rail'B, and brakes 'l. The pallets have a length which is conveniently entered through the door of the railway car and a width sli htly less than the width of the carriage 2. The carriage is shown disposed on the station platform laterally adjacent a railway car. with substantially half its length beside the car door. Itis comprised of a' lower frame 8 resting'on rear wheels 9'and front steering wheels H3 through conventional intermediate members' in any mannerknown to the art, and an upper or track frame H supported from the lower frame 8 through intermediate adjustable means presently to be described in detail. Hinged to the two sides of track frame H are four gates 12, two being on each side. Three of the gates are shown in raised position, the fourth being lowered to rest at its extremity on the floor of the railway car through the door, so as to provide a bridge for passage of the roller pallet between the car and the carriage. The gates in raised position are secured by latches 13, to confine the pallets laterally on the carriage. Extending across the frame ll between the gates ii, are four parallel trackways [4, comprising two pairs, each of which accommodates the casters: 4-of one pallet in proper assembled position on the carriage. Mounted on the frame ll, adjacent the gates I2 and substantially midway between the two trackways !4 provided for each pallet, are pairs of guide-receiving rollers l5 which-engage the dependingrail 6 ofv thev pallets from opposite sides and center the casters 4 in the trackways. Four such pairs of rollers. I5 are provided on a two-palletcarriage.

Referring now principally to Figure 4 and the auxiliary small. detail figures, the upper or track frame, His comprised of a. pair of longitudinal stringers l6 which are. conveniently channelshaped in section with ahorizontal web and deep downstanding flanges, across which are secured and beamsv l7 and center beam l8. The beams LT and. 13. are. wide-webbed. inverted channels pressedlof metal. plate, and the trackways [4 are depressions formed in the horizontal webs thereof; there being, two such depressions in the center beam l8 and one each in the end beams IT. The dependingfiangesof the beams l7 and I8 are framed into the stringers l6, and extend beyond to the edge of'the carriage; and the gates i2 are hinged thereto'by means of hinge plates 19 (see Figures 3' and 6), except at the extreme-ends of the frame, where thedepending flanges of beams IT provide a. support for the pivots 20' for the latches [3. The guide rollers l5' are. spaced apart horizontally-above the'stringers l6'and turn about.

pivot pins 2| which are retained in anchor blocks ZZsecured between the flanges of the stringers (see Figure 5,).

Extending horizontally through each stringer l6; and bearing in' blocks 23. confined therein, are threesupporting pivotipin's 24; one being substantially at. the center of the stringer and the other two being near the ends thereof; The ends of these pins rest in bearings at the upper ends of the inclined links 25, 26' and 2.1; the two end links 25 each being pivoted at the ends of the stringers and the center: links 26 and 21 beingpivoted about opposite ends of the pins 24 at the centers of the stringers; The lower ends of the links bear on trunnion journals 28"projecting laterally from jacknuts 29, which rest on slide rails- 30 secured in lower frame 8-' and are movable therealong by-turning' the jackscrews31 on which the nuts 29*are threaded.

The'end'links 25'areeach comprised'of welded bars and plates, to form, asbest shown in Figure 7, a rectangularstructure having yokes 32-and 33 at the cornerswhich embracethestringers I6 21, as shown particularly in Figures 6 and 8, are

similar rectangular structures provided with yokes- 33 at the-bottom to receive their jack nuts 29', but have single bearing brackets-34' at'the top adjacent opposite sides of the stringers I6, the brackets of link 26 being on the inside of the stringers and those of link 2! being on the outside, to bear on opposite ends of the pin 24 at the center of the stringers.

The lower frame 8 of the carriage is comprised of two longitudinal side beams 35, transverse end beams 36, and spaced center cross beams 97. The jack screws 3| are journalled at their ends to turn in bored bearing blocks 38 welded to the webs of beams 36 and 31. Rails 30 along which the nuts 29 glide are framed between the beams 36 and 3! below the screws 3|; and may conveniently be formed integral with the side beams 35 as shown in Figure 6. The jack screws 3! are threaded between journals with right hand threads on one side and left hand threads on the other side of their center, and the nuts 29 are threaded to match, so as to move in opposite directions along each screw when it is turned. To the ends of the screws between the beams 31, bevel gears 39 are secured, forming opposed pairs, each gear meshing With one of the two bevel gears 46 which are secured to the transverse operating shaft 4I, best shown in Figure 9. This shaft is journalled at each end in bearing blocks 42 welded to the webs of side beams 35 substantially at their centers. The ends of shaft 4i extend through the beams 35, and are shaped to receive a fixed or removable crank handle 43. Rotation of shaft 4! by turning the crank 43 turns all the bevel gears and the four jack screws, causing the nuts 29 to glide along the rails 30, and lifting or lowering the upper frame II by varying the inclination of the links 25, 25 and 27. It will be evident that this provides substantial adjustment of the level of the track frame of the carriage to accommodate the platform arrangements of different stations and the use of different cars over the route. For extreme conditions, special carriages may of course be provided; and my apparatus and system are not limited to uniformity of equipment throughout, but any reasonable means of handling the pallets may be provided where the preferred form of carriages is not suitable.

The wheel mounting of the carriage may be any convenient arrangement which it is not necessary to describe here in detail; it being sufficient to note that the wheels 9 are mounted on a fixed axle 44 extending between brackets 45 depending from the frame 8, and the wheels 16 are mounted on a pivoted axle 46 turning about a king pin 41 in a bridge 48 which spans the frame 8 at the steering end; the car being pulled by drawbar 49 pivoted to the axle 46.

The pallets are preferably light, shallow and strong and the horizontal platform 3 may be reinforced with ribs for stiffness. To hold them stationary when rolling is not desired, suitable braking means is provided, which may be any suitable device. One such device is indicated at i, which is constructed after the fashion of a conventional pedal depressed, spring released door check, a well-known article of hardware, which when depressed constitutes a retractable support independent of the rollers 4. Preferably, the guide rail 6 of the pallet diverges towards the bottom, and the guide-receiving rollers if; have beveled engaging surfaces which overlap the diverging rail head to confine the pallet from vertical as well as longitudinal displacement, as best shown in Figure 4. In other Words, the guide rails and rollers interlock both vertically and longitudinally, due to the oppositely beveled engaging surfaces. The handles 5 are pivoted on brackets 50 secured to the platform 3, and are foldable against the platform when it is desired to set them aside when not in use.

Although I have illustrated and described but one embodiment of my apparatus and system, changes in details of construction and modification of the arrangement disclosed may, of course, be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim. While the invention has been particularly described With reference to shipping by rail, it may be applied as Well to other uses, such as distribution of parts in process of manufacture in factories, deliveries other than by rail, and the like; and permanent or removable side walls and lids may obviously be added to the pallets, or other changes made, to suit handling of goods in containers instead of open platforms where this appears desirable.

I claim:

A baggage cart comprising a wheeled carriage having a plurality of generally horizontal trackways extendin transversely of said cart, a plurality of platforms comprising collectively the deck of said cart, rollers on each of said platforms engaging one of said trackways, a transverse guide rail extending beyond and intermediate said rollers and depending from said platform, and generally horizontal rollers mounted in pairs on each side of said carriage, said rail and said horizontal rollers having bevelled engaging faces in interlocking relation adapted to drift the platforms entering said trackways to centered position therein and to restrain said platforms from vertical displacement with respect to said carriage.

WILLIAM F. ADLER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 197,945 Reble Dec. 11, 1877 679,567 Lowe July 30, 1901 773,126 Cottman Oct. 25, 1904 1,148,531 Oldham Aug. 3, 1915 1,257,169 Yarbrough Feb. 19, 1918 1,287,759 Russell Dec. 17, 1918 1,454,760 Neary May 8, 1923 1,499,530 Henderson July 1, 1924 1,613,387 Fitch Jan. 4, 1927 1,784,975 Rosman Dec. 16, 1930 1,797,601 Barr Mar. 24, 1931 1,816,041 Denehie July 28, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 286,539 Italy Dec. 30, 1929 

